Cold Cases

(Photo courtesy Mobile Police Department)Filing cabinets at the Mobile Police Department hold many clues, but no solutions for a number of high-profile "cold" homicide cases.

The files are thick, but the leads are few. And the killers are still on the loose. ... On Sept. 9, the Press-Register began a 10-part weekly series examining some of the area's most compelling unsolved homicides.

• A body in Baldwin County: More than 22 years after Dorthea "Dee Dee" Downey's skeletal remains were found near Spanish Fort, the case remains unsolved, though a former district attorney said he believes he knows who killed her.

• Slaying left three orphans: The children suddenly lost their mother when someone beat and killed Delphine Ash Buchanan in late 1996. Years later, family members wait for justice, even as the police investigation seems stalled.

• Wooded ambush: Homicide near Faulkner State campus remains a mystery after 20 years